Conventional automatic vending machines, money changing machines and service equipment, etc., have been equipped with coin processing apparatus that, in addition to determining the genuineness of inserted coins, sorts and holds those inserted coins deemed genuine by denomination, and also pays out the sorted and held coins according to the amount of change being returned.
The coin processing apparatus, in general terms, comprises the following three main constituting elements.
The first main constituting element comprises coin sorting means that determines the genuineness of inserted coins and sorts, by denomination, the genuine coins.
The second main constituting element comprises a coin holding apparatus comprising a plurality of coin tubes that respectively hold coins by denomination, which coins have been sorted by denomination by the coin sorting means.
The third main constituting element comprises a coin dispenser that selects coins from inside the coin tubes constituting the coin holding apparatus, according to the amount of change being returned, and pays those selected coins out.
Of these, the conventional coin dispenser 1 has the structure depicted in the schematic perspective view of major components given in FIG. 18.
The coin dispenser 1 comprises payout cam drive means (not shown in the drawings) comprising drive motor gears that transmit the driving force of the drive motor; a payout link 4 that comprises a pair of payout cams 2 and 3 that are turned one revolution in one direction (clockwise) every payout operation by the driving force transmitted via the payout cam drive means and channels 4a and 4b engaged with pins 2a and 3a projecting from the lower surfaces of the payout cams 2 and 3, and that moves reciprocally in the directions of arrow A from the initial position in the drawing when the payout cams 2 and 3 turn one revolution in the direction of the arrows (clockwise); and a payout slider 5 that engages the payout link 4 through the pair of pins 4c and 4d and moves reciprocally in the directions of the arrow A in linkage with the reciprocal motion of the payout link 4. The payout drive means (not shown), as described above, payout cams 2 and 3 and payout link 4 constitute payout slider drive means 6.
In the payout slider 5 are formed four holes 7, 8, 9 and 10 for holding, respectively, a single coin of the coins held at the bottoms of the coin tubes (not shown) that constitute the coin holding apparatus described above. On the bottom sides of the holes 7, 8, 9 and 10 are provided a bottom plate 11 that covers the bottom surface of the payout slider 5 and that ordinarily does not move, in the initial position depicted in FIG. 18, so as to prevent coins held in the holes 7, 8, 9 and 10 from falling down. The bottom plate 11 configures the bottom surface of the plurality of coin tubes (not shown) that constitute the coin holding apparatus.
Inside the payout link 4, change slides 12, 13, 14 and 15 for controlling the paying out and non- paying out of the coins held one at a time inside the corresponding holes 7, 8, 9, 10, are inserted such that they can go in and out freely. The ends of the change slides front at the bottoms of the corresponding holes 7, 8, 9 and 10 in the payout slider 5.
The change slides 12, 13, 14 and 15 are provided with stopper means (not shown) for stopping their movement from the initial position depicted in FIG. 18 toward the payout link 4 side. Thus, the structure is such as to allow the movement of the change slides 12, 13, 14 and 15 toward change solenoids 16, 17, 18 and 19 following the sliding movement of the payout link 4 in the directions of the arrow A, while checking the movement from the initial positions depicted in FIG. 18 toward the payout link 4.
Furthermore, the change slides 12, 13, 14 and 15 described above are installed such that the tip 12a of the change slide 12 fronts inside the hole 7, the tip 13a of the change slide 13 fronts inside the hole 8, the tip 14a of the change slide 14 fronts inside the hole 9 and the tip 15a of the change slide 15 fronts inside the hole 10.
The back ends 12b, 13b, 14b and 15b of the change slides 12, 13, 14 and 15, respectively, in their initial positions, are engaged by change levers 16a, 17a, 18a and 19a configured by the plungers of the change solenoids 16, 17, 18 and 19, respectively, that are installed independently for the change slides 12, 13, 14 and 15. The movement of these change slides, that is to say, movement toward the change solenoids 16, 17, 18 and 19, is ordinarily checked.
According to the coin dispenser 1 described in the foregoing, when a signal is input from a controller (not shown) to pay out one coin (not shown) held in the hole 9, for example, in response to that payout signal, the payout cams 2 and 3 are turned through one revolution in the direction of the arrows by the payout cam drive means (not shown), causing the payout slider 5 to move reciprocally in the directions of the arrow A, which would cause the coins held in the holes 7, 8, 9 and 10 in the payout slider 5 to drop one at a time down below the holes 7, 8, 9 and 10. However, as depicted in FIG. 19, based on the signal to pay out one coin held in the hole 9, only the change lever 18a of the change solenoid 18 that checks the movement of the back end 14b of the change slide 14 is activated, moving upward as indicated by the arrow B, thus releasing the engagement between the change lever 18a and the change slide back end 14b.
Thereupon, as depicted in FIG. 20 (from which the payout cams 2 and 3 have been omitted), only the change slide 14 slides backward, following the movement of the payout link 4 in the directions of the arrow A, whereby the opening in the bottom of the hole 9 is maintained so that the coin held in the hole 9 drops down and is paid out.
As depicted in FIG. 20, since the back ends 12b, 13b and 15b of the other change slides 12, 13 and 15 have their movement checked by the change levers 16a, 17a and 19a, respectively, depending on the amount of movement of the payout link 4, the change slide tips 12a, 13a and 15a advance at the bottoms of the holes 7, 8 and 10 corresponding thereto. Therefore, the bottoms of those holes 7, 8 and 10 are not released, and, accordingly, the coins held in those holes 7, 8 and 10 do not fall down below the bottoms of the holes 7, 8 and 10 despite the reciprocal movement in the directions of the arrow A of the payout slider 5, and are thus not paid out.
In other words, the coin dispenser described in the foregoing is configured so that, if change levers 16a, 17a, 18a and 19a corresponding to coins to be paid out are activated (moved upward), thus releasing the checks on the movements of the change slides 12, 13, 14 and 15 corresponding to the coins to be paid out, those coins can be paid out. When paying out a plurality of coins of the same denomination, the change lever of the change solenoid correspond to that coin to be paid out is activated (moved upward), thereby releasing the check on the movement of that change slide, and thereafter it is only necessary to move the payout slider 5 reciprocally a number of times coinciding with the number of coins to be paid out. Also, when paying out a plurality of types of coins simultaneously, the change levers of a plurality of change solenoids corresponding to that plurality of types of coin are activated (moved up) simultaneously, thereby releasing the checks on the movements of the change slides corresponding to that plurality of types of coin to be paid out, so that plurality of types of coin can be paid out simultaneously.
When, on the other hand, the coin dispenser 1 described in the foregoing is to be employed in various countries of the world where different types and diameters of coins are used, it is desirable to provide as many functions as possible in the coin dispenser 1 so that it can pay out many types of coins.
Thus, we can conceive of a construction where, a function for paying out another different type of coin having a large diameter is added to the conventional coin dispenser 1.
FIG. 21 is a schematic perspective view of the major components of a coin dispenser 20, which was proposed earlier by the applicant, wherein the basic structure of the conventional coin dispenser 1 depicted in FIG. 18 is adopted, but wherein a feature is added for paying out another different coin having a large diameter, so that it is provided with features for paying out a total of five types of coin. The same reference symbols as used in FIG. 18 are used to indicate identical components.
With the coin dispenser 20, the payout link 4, payout slider 5 and bottom plate 11, respectively, are elongated toward the left (in the drawing) to accommodate the placement of a change slide 21 having the same structure as the change slides 12, 13, 14 and 15 as described above. A hole 22 is also formed in the elongated payout slider 5 to hold another coin of a large diameter.
A change solenoid 23 is provided at the back end 21b of the change slide 21, similar to the change solenoids 16, 17, 18 and 19 noted earlier, and a change lever 23a configured by the plunger thereof is engaged with the back end 21b of the change slide 21.
According to such a coin dispenser 20, when a signal is input from a controller (not shown) to pay out one large- diameter coin held in the hole 22, based on that payout signal, the payout cams 2 and 3 are turned through one revolution, in the direction of the arrows, by the payout drive means (notshown), causing the payout slider 5 to move reciprocally in the directions of the arrow A, so that the coins held in the holes 7, 8, 9, 10 and 22 of the payout slider 5 are dropped one at a time down through the holes 7, 8, 9, 10 and 22. When this is being done, however, as depicted in FIG. 22, based on a signal to pay out one coin held in the hole 22, only the change lever 23a of the change solenoid 23 that checks the movement of the back end 21b of the change slide 21 is activated so that it moves upward as indicated by the arrow B, thus releasing the engagement with the change slide back end 21b.
Thereupon, as depicted in FIG. 23 from which the payout cams 2 and 3 have been omitted, only the change slide 21 slides backward following the movement of the payout link 4 in the directions of the arrow A (in FIG. 22), whereby the opening at the bottom of the hole 22 is maintained, so that the coin held in the hole 22 is dropped down from the hole 22 and is paid out.
Accordingly, it is possible to pay out five or more types of coins using the same basic payout structure as in the conventional coin dispenser 1 described earlier.
However, a coin processing apparatus wherein the coin dispenser 1 or 20 described above is loaded, is usually to be loaded in an extremely limited and narrow space inside automatic vending machines or equipment. Therefore, the overall size of the coin processing apparatus is strictly controlled.
In particular, the dimension L in the depth direction from the front to the back in the coin dispenser 1, inclusive of the distance of reciprocal movement of the change slide 14 when paying out coins, is strictly specified.
However, with the need to pay out as many types of coins as possible, according to the coin dispenser 20 wherein the conventional structure depicted in FIG. 18 is adopted but wherein also a feature is added for paying out another coin of large diameter as depicted in FIG. 21, for example, in order to pay out that coin of large diameter, the dimension L' in the depth direction from the front to the back in the coin dispenser 20, inclusive of the distance of reciprocal movement of the change slide 21, becomes extremely large (L'&gt;L). Thus there is a danger of being unable to install a coin processing apparatus wherein is loaded such a coin dispenser 20, within the limited space available inside an automatic vending machine, etc.
In view of the situation described in the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to provide a coin dispenser wherewith even more types of coins can be paid out without increasing the dimension in the depth direction.